§ 22. Mr. Joseph Deanasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what 603W observations he has received from local authorities regarding local authority mortgage rates, related to the Housing Green Paper on Policy, Command Paper No. 6851.
§ Mr. FreesonMost local authorities take the view that they should be free to charge the Building Society Association mortgage rate, but that costs should fall on the Exchequer.
§ 27. Mr. Michael Morrisasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what action he proposes to take as a result of the 20 per cent. sample survey of local authority mortgages published on 17th January.
§ Mr. FreesonThe survey shows that local authorities in 1976 increasingly lent to people, and on propreties, most in need of mortgages. This is a trend we shall encourage. The housing investment programme allocation system allows authorities to concentrate resources on local priorities.
§ Mr. Staintonasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will take steps to rectify the situation whereby local authority mortgage borrowers are typically paying 2 per cent. above the currently recommended Building Societies' Association rate available generally to the less needy and those with largest tax reliefs.
§ Mr. ArmstrongI am considering the responses to the Green Paper proposal to enable local authorities to charge the BSA recommended morgtage rate by use of the rate fund.